There are serious challenges facing landlords in the coming years, but new research suggests that on the whole they are confident that their investments will not be derailed.

Doommongers have suggested that changes to income tax, an increase in Stamp Duty for landlords and a potential rate rise could result in many selling up and exiting the market.

However, this week the Council of Mortgage Lenders has previewed new research from YouGov which highlights the resilience of property investors.

Sitting pretty

According to the YouGov survey, three-quarters of landlords said they foresee no problems in servicing their mortgage payments, even if interest rates were to rise by 1.5%, which is more than is widely expected.

Landlords identified a range of strategies for coping with higher mortgage costs, including the positive cash flow that rental payments currently provide and ready access to contingency funds.

Taxing times?

A number of tax measures have been announced in recent months, including Stamp Duty changes coming in this April and income tax changes from 2017.

These are both likely to have a dampening effect on future growth prospects for buy-to-let and the private rented sector. However the majority of respondents to the YouGov survey (60%) said that they wouldn’t need to take any action as a result of the tax relief changes. But 8% admitted they would slow down the rate of growth of their portfolio.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders also pointed out that a cumulative effect was possible, since the impact of income tax changes is ‘likely to be reinforced by the Stamp Duty changes’.